#535 Unsummoned Part 1

It’s been a long time coming but I think it’s finally time to bid Drake goodbye.

When I first created him (as well as Devon) back in # 95, I wanted an unreal magical creature to counteract all the human interactions with some levity, much in the same way that Girls with Slingshots had a talking cactus and Questionable Content had a tiny robot to interact with their human cast.* They gave the comic some light-hearted whimsy and practically became the main stars in their comics. I used those characters as a model for Drake, but after a few years, it became quite clear to me that this comic is heading in a different direction and Drake, more often than not, doesn’t quite fit in.

So it’s with a little sadness that I present this three part farewell to Drake. But don’t shed a tear for him just yet. He may just turn up in another project down the road. (Can you say, Green man of Portland?)

*Not like now where every other character in Q.C. is some damn robot or walking AI…)

Well, the good news is, Drake will go out on a high note (how could he not?), but he won’t be missed in terms of the story, so I think it’s both appropriate from a character relationship standpoint and a narrative standpoint. Kudos to you for planning ahead so well, not everyone manages it. 😉

Thank you. I do like to think of the ‘long game’ for the comic. A kind of loose road map for all the characters that gets more defined and refined the closer it comes to creating the actual comic. Some characters go out years.